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XXXIX.

fanguine; labia quatiuntur,-And. L. ii. C. 35. Renowmed Marti', and redoubted Emmilen.
Non eft ullius affectus facies turbatior-tumefcunt
venae, concutitur crebro fpiritu pectus, rapida vocis
eruptio colla diftendit: tunc artus trepidi, inquietae
manus, totius corporis fluctuatio-Talem nobis IRAM
figuremus, flammâ lumina ardentia-tela manu utra-
que quatientem-vel, fi videtur, fit qualis apud vates
noftros eft,

Sanguineum quatiens dextrâ Bellona flagellum.
Aut fciffa gaudens vadit Difcordia pallâ.

Tis impoffible for the reader, I fhould think,
not to fee here the plain imitations of our poet,
both as to the look, drefs, and attitude. Let us
add Pierce Plowman, Fol. xxii. 2.

Now awaketh Wrath with two white eien.

And Chaucer in the Romaunt of the Rofe, v. 147.

Amiddis faw I Hate yftonde,

That for her wrath and ire and onde,
Semid to be a minoreffe,
An angry wight, a chidireffe,
And ful of gile, and fell corage,
By femblaunt, was that ilke image:
And he was nothing wele araid,
But like a wode woman afraide:
Yfrouncid foule was her vifage-
XXXVII.

Of proud Lucifer', as one of the traine.] So the 1ft
quarto: the 2d,

But the elfin knight which ought that warlike wage-] i. e. which owed; which was the proper owner, or poffeffor of. For thus to owe, is ufed. Sydney's Arcadia, p. 37. If it be by the death of him that owed it, &c. i. e. was the pof

feffor or owner of the armour.

Which he from pagan lords, that did them owe,
Had wonne, &c.
Fairf. iii. 73.

Shakespeare thus ufes it in a hundred paffages.
ex. gr. The nobleft grace fhe ow'd. i. e. was mistress
of. Temp. act iii.

What a full fortune does this thick-lips owe
If he can carry her thus-
Othell. Act. i.

i. e. what a full fortune does the Moor Othello
poffefs, if he thus can carry Defdemona. A-
gain in Act. iii. Not poppy-shall ever medicine thee
to that fweet fleep, which thou owdft yesterday. But
here fome later Editors have interpolated and
printed, hadft: and this is one way books come
to be corrupted; namely to give us an easy and
a new word, for a difficult and an old word.
XL.

Therewith they gan to hurtlen greedily,
Redoubted battail ready to darrayne,

And clafh their fields, and shake their fwords on hy.] Twas a cuftom of the old warriours to strike their fwords or fpears against their fhields: Cùm haftis clypei feriuntur irae documentum eft et doloris: But Ammian. Marcell. L. xv. C. 8. So Turnus in Virgil, viii. 3.

Of proud Lucifera as one of the traine.
Which is no verfe: So too the Folios.
Mr. Hughes from his conjecture,
Of proud Lucifera as one o' th' traine.
That the reading, which I have given, is Spen-
fer's own, appears not only from the authority
of his own edition; but likewife from his usual
elifion in fuch like proper names: ex: gr.
Called Fidefs', and fo fuppofd to be.

Utque acres concuffit equos, útque IMPULIT ARMA. i. e. clafhed his arms. Xenophon in the 4th that the Greeks, before they charged their eneBook of the Expedition of Cyrus, informs us, my, ftruck their fhields with their fpears; and then finging the Paean began the general attack. Many more inftances may be collected. But I would add likewife, that when they applauded their General's fpeech, they clash'd -St. 15. their fhields with their arms. Conclamat omnis multitudo et fuo more armis concrepat; quod facere in eo confueverunt cujus orationem approbant. Caef. de Bell. Gall. L. vII. S. 21. To this Milton alludes, i. 667.

C. 6. St. 2.

B. i. C. 4. St. 2.
But to Duefs' each one himselfe did payne.
The fayre Duefs' had forft him leave behind.
The fayreft Un', his onely daughter deare.
Like an huge Aetn' of deepe engulfed gryefe.
B. iii. C. 2. St. 32.
Renowmed Martia and redoubted Emmilen.

C. 12. St. 21.

And fierce with grafped arms Clafb'd on their founding fhields the din of war.

XLII.

Who reapes the harvest fowen by his foe.] 'ANNOTgion B. iii. C. 3. St. 54. áμã dégos, alienam demetens meffem. Ariftophanes. Alii fementem faciunt, alii metent. There is fre

Which verse we muft plainly read,

quent

quent allufion to this proverb in the Scriptures. See Galat. vi. 7. 2 Corinth. ix. 6.

Ibid.

That brothers hand fhall dearely well requight.] Spenfer's omiffion of particles (fo contrary to the genius of our language) frequently occafions no fmall embarraffment of conftruction.-That fball a brothers hand dearly well requite.

Ibid.

Him little anfwerd th' angry elfin knight] the angry elfin knight is an expreffion, applied to the redcrofs knight, in this place contrary to poetical decorum, and entirely inconfiftent, with the character of a truly courageous chriftian hero: nor indeed is he angry at all; 'tis the Sarazin is angry, St. 41. pardon the errour of enraged wight. and St. 38. he is enflamed with fury. Tis very ufual for words to get out of their proper places in printing, and with this fuppofition the alteration offers itself so very easy, that I can hardly doubt, but Spenser wrote,

Him angry, little anfwerd th' elfin knight, [right. He never meant with words, but fwords to plead bis XLIV.

Now whenas darkfome night had all difplaid Her coleblack curtein-] Night here is a perfon: the poets describe her covering the face of Nature with a black mantle or veil: So our poet above, C. 1. St. 39.

Ibid.

But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace
Arrefted-] The image is very natural and pret-
ty, and imitated by Shakespeare in Julius Cae-
far, Act. iv.
O murdrous flumber,

Layft thou thy leaden mace upon my boy?
XLV.

Caufe of my new griefe, caufe of new joy,] So the
1ft and 2d quarto Editions. But the Folios
read as Spencer corrected it among the faults
efcaped in print, caufe of my new joy. Juft above,
And him amoves with peaches-Quem verbis movet.
The letter a is often added or taken away, as
moves, amoves, (and thus Chaucer ufes it) down,
adown, &c.
XLVII.

By this falfe faytor, who unworthie ware
His worthy fhield, WHOM he with guilefull fnare
Entrapped flew.] i. e. The worthy fhield of HIM,
WHOM, &c. This conftruction is frequent in
Latin and Greek authors.

Δαής αὖτ ̓ ΕΜΟΣ ἔσκε ΚΥΝΏΠΙΔΟΣ, levir item meus erat inverecundae. i. e. iμě nvváridos. Hom. II. y' 180.

-cum mea nemo

Scripta legat, vulgo recitare timentis. i. e. of me fearing.

That from THY juft obedience could revolt,

Hor,

Whiles fad Night over him her mantle black doth fpred. WHOM to obey is happiness entire. Milt. vi. 740.

Again below, C. 5. St. 20.

And in a foule black pitchy mantle clad.
And C. 11. St. 49.

Who with her fable mantle gan to fhade
The face of earth.

Coeperat humenti Phoebum fubtexere pallâ
Nox, et caeruleam terris infuderat umbram.

Statius Theb. ii. 527.

Jamque dies prono decedens lumine pontum
Inciderat, furvamque fuper Nox caerula pallam
Sidereis pictam flammis per inane trahebat.

Juvencus, Lib. ii. [rude, Night with his [read hir] mantill, that is derk and Gan for to fprede the hemisphere about.

Chauc. Merch. Tale. 1314.

i. e. From the juft obedience of thee, whom, &c.

XLVIII.

That calls to you above

From wandring Stygian fhores, where it doth endlesse MOVE.] That calls to you here above, from the Stygian fhores where it wanders endleffe: viz. a hundred years; Centum ERRANT annos. Virg. vi. 329. See above C. 3. St. 36.-He applies that to the thing, which is proper to the perfon; wandring fhores. See note on B. 2. C. II. St. 42. So below C. 5. St. 11. long-wandring woe, with the fame allufion. But methinks our poet gave it ROVE and not MOVE; the word is more proper and expreffive,

From wandring Stygian Shores, where it doth endlesse

ROVE.

Centum ERRANT annos.

CANTO

CANTO

I.

AND is with child of glorious great intent.] This is expreffed after Plato's manner: in allufion to the innate and intellectual powers in the foul, full of entity and of fubftantial forms; which by proper inftitution knows how to unfold itself, and, as it were, conceives, and brings forth out of its intellectual womb. Hence Socrates from a notion of mind thus being potentially replete with all things, [IIANTA NOEPSE. AYNAMEI ПANTA.] avoided the dogmatical, and ufed the obftreticious method of inftruction, [μαιευτική τεχνή ] The reader may confult Plato in Theaet. Plutarch in Quaeft. Platon. But Spenfer feems particularly to have the following paflage in view, ΚΥΟΥΣΙ πάντες ἄνθρωποι, καὶ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα καὶ κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἐν τιν ἡλικία γένωνται ΤΙΚΤΕΙΝ ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις. Plat. in Sympos. p. 206.

II.

At laft the golden orientall gate
Of greatest heaven gan to open fayre;

And Phoebus fresh, as brydegrome to his mete,
Came dauncing forth, shaking his deawie hayre;
And hurls his gliftring beams through gloomy ayre.]
I fhould not have thought of changing burls
into hurld, had not Spenfer fo ordered it among
the Errata printed at the end of his first edition.
He fays burld, because the beams of the Sun are
his darts, which he hurls; or arrowes which he
Shoots forth: So Prudentius, II. hymn.

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V.

tabernacle for the Sun, which cometh forth as a bride-
groom out of his chamber, and rejoyceth as a giant
to run his courfe [jocund to run his longitude
through heavens high rode, Milt. vii. 370.]
Pf. xix. 5. After this description of the Sun,
'tis heightening the idea of our Knight's arms
to call them-Sun-bright arms.
'Tis a happy
epithet: and indeed in compounding of words
our language greatly excells the Latin, but
fcarcely arrives at the Greek facility. How-
ever, with respect to this epithet, it gives the
whole idea, that a whole verfe even in Homer
gives,

Teixo aμpárov ws' nλixтwę ißeßnxs.
Armis collucens tanquam fol incedebat.

II. . 513.

He has the fame epithet below, C. II. St. 4. Fairfax ufes it in his tranflation of Tafo, iii. 9. and Milton, vi. 100.

Th' apoftat in his Sun-bright chariot fat.

III.

And many bardes, that to the trembling chord Can tune their timely voices cunningly] Can tune, i. e. did tune; or knew how to tune: timely, according to proper time and measure: cunningly, as artifts. Let the reader here obferve the difpofition, and order of things; the proceffion, the ratification of the oath, the combat, the breaking off of the combat by fupernatural interpofition then the scene changes to the infernal regions, where Dueffa goes for the cure of the wounded Sarazin.

IV.

They bring them wines of Greece and Araby, And daintie fpices fetcht from furthest Ynd, To kindle beat of courage privily: And in the wine a folemn oth they bind T obferve the faired lawes of armes that are affynd.] Spencer mentions fpiced wines, as agreeable to the eastern manners: I would cause thee to drink of fpiced wine. Sol. Song. viii. 2. We read in Greek authors of what they call δινος ἀνθοσμίας, vinum odoratum. See Spanh. ad Arift. Plut. v. 809. and Longus, Paftor. L. iv. pag. 121. This wine in Acts ii. 13. is called yλuxos, not new wine as we tranflate it: but fpiced wine rather. The ratification of the oath by wine is agreeable to the custom mentioned in Homer, II. iii. v. 270. 295. And this whole ceremony

18

is according to the laws of arms, and established
cuftoms in romance writers-The proceffion;
the champ clos, or lifts; the royal canopy for
the queen; the fhield hanged up for the con-
queror, and Dueffa in open view, the conque-
ror's meed likewife. See Du Cange in Duello.
And first they fwear to obferve the facred law
of arms: this oath, the reader may fee in Spelm.
Gloff. v. Campus. and Wachter, Gloff. Germ. v.
ACHT. Shakespeare in the combat of Boling-
broke and Mowbray mentions this oath :

K. Rich. Marshall, demand of yonder champion
The caufe of his arrival here in arms;
Afk him his name, and orderly proceed
To fwear him in the justice of his caufe.

Sydney alludes to it, pag. 278. in the mock
combat between Clinias and Dametas, and tak-
ing the oath of thofe champions that they came without
guile or witchcraft, fet them at wonted diftance, one
from the other. Then the trumpets founding, &c.
A fhrilling trumpet founded from on hie—

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Their fhining fhieldes about their wrefts they tye;
And burning blades about their heades do bleffe.] I
refer to the Gloffary to explain Blesse.-'Tis faid
here, they tye their shields about their arms: So B.
ii. C. 3. St. 1.

And many-folded fhield he bound about his wrest.
The Italian romance writers call this Imbracci-
áre.

The knights began to encounter at the third Piglia la lancia, e'l forte fcudo imbraccia. founding of the trumpet.

E al terzo fuon mette la lancia in refta.

Ariofto. v. 88. In imitation of this cuftom of thrice Sounding, before they engaged in their lifts; the playhoufes introduced their three feveral Soundings, before the actors entered the Stage: which cuftom is now changed into playing of pieces of mufick thrice, before the curtain draws up. Those who like to trace cuftoms from their originals might not be displeased to read this, otherwife, trifling remark.

V.

-Unto a paled green] a green field or plain paled
for the combatants: unto the lifts.-The places
for the Queen and Spectators is according to
ancient cuftoms.

On th' other fide in all mens open vew
Dueffa placed is, and on a tree

Sanfoy his field is hang'd with bloody hew:

Both those the lawrell girlands to the victor dew. Both thofe i. e. Dueffa and the fhield, were the lawrell girlands dew to the victor.-Tis very hard; fcarce any tortured figure of rhetorick can allow this, to call Duefla, and the fhield of Sansfoy, lawrell girlands: but let us add the connective particle (which might be easily omitted, especially if written with the Anglo-S. character as they often did write it) and then how eafy all will appear?

Orl. innam. L. i. C. 17. St. 63. La fpada tira fuora, e'l feudo imbraccia.

Ibid. L. ii. C. 7. St. 68. Lo feudo imbraccia, ed affronta il ladrone.

"Ibid. L. ii. C. 20. St. 49.

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Goe, Caytive Elfe

XI.

And foone redeeme from his long-wandring woe:
Goe, guiltie ghoft, to him my message make-] His
long-wandring woe, the reader will understand
this, if he turns to note on C. 4. St. 48. he
was to wander and waile by black Stygian lake,
till his manes were expiated: and fo below, St.
xiii.

Alone he wandring, thee too long doth want.
What the Sarazin adds,

Goe, guiltie ghoft, to him my message make

Seems taken from what Pyrrhus faid to old
Priam,
-Referes ergo haec et NUNCIUS IBIS
Pelidae genitori.

XIII.

Alone he wandring, thee too long doth want.)
-Morere, et fratrem ne defere frater.
Virg. x. 600.
Therewith his heavie hand he high gan reare-
Heavy hand is literally from Homer, xiga Ba-
gilar. Apud Homerum βαρειαι χειρες Sunt manus vio-
lentae: H. Steph. Hefychius, Bagua xé1ę ĥ μraiçó-

-When loe! a darkfome clowd
Upon him fell: he no where doth appeare
But vanifht is.

Observe here that Virgilian mixture of tenfes,
doth appeare-vanifht is-of which we have given
inftances on a note on B. i. C. 3. St. 39. Ob-
serve too that this duell is ended by fuperna-
tural interpofition: Dueffa, like Homer's Gods,
flings a darkfome cloud between the two com-
batants, and thus rescues her knight. See II.
v. 380. and II. é. 345. xvavén vepeλn, with a dark-
fome cloud. By the fame kind of interpofition
Neptune faved Aeneas, Il. ú. 321. Nube cavâ
eripui. Æn. v. 810.

Próque viro nebulam & ventos obtendere inanes.
Æn. x. 82.

XV.

Not all fo fatisfide-] He not altogether fo well fatisfyed fought all around, greedy and eager after his prey:

-Solum denfà in caligine Turnum
Veftigat luftrans, folum in certamina pofcit.

So Menelaus miffing his prey,
Ατρείδης δ' ἀν' όμιλον φώτα, θηρὶ

XVI.

-And yes to heaven bright.] Authgarov XEL.
Hom. II. . 60. It clamor caelo. Virg. v. 451.
Which Chaucer tranflates, in the Knightes
Tale. 2563.

The voyce of the pepil touched heven.

XVII.

In wine and oyle they wash his woundes wide.] So
in both the old quarto editions; but in the Fo-
lios,

In wine and oyle they wafhen his wounds wide.
But the verse is to be thus measured,
In wine and oyle they wash his woundes wide.
With respect to this measure, see more below
in a note on St. 23.

The remedy here mentioned is according to
Scripture, But a certain Samaritaine-went to him
and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine.
Luke x. 34. Though other writers, I find,
mention too the fame, In diverforium citiffimè
abimus, & haud altè vulnerati in lecto plagas oleo et
vino medemur. Petronius.

XIX.
But to the eafterne coaft-] As Phoebus funk in
the west, Night opposite rose in the east.
Vertitur interea caelum, et ruit oceano Nox.

XX.

Virg. ii. 250.

NIGHT] Let us ftay a little and contemplate
this venerable old matron, who makes no in-
confiderable figure in this canto. She is clad in
a dark pitchy mantle: See note on C. 4. St.
44.
Mufaeus names Night Kuavósλos, and Euripi-
des in Ione v. 1150. μedáμhoc, i. e. sable-
vested as Milton tranflates it, ii. 691.

Sat fable-vefted Night, eldest of things,
With him [Chaos] enthron'd
The confort of his reign.

She rides in a chariot drawn by cole-black steeds :
Donec Nox atro circumdata corpus amiɛtu
Nigrantes invexit equos.

Silius Ital. xv. 284.
Midfum. Dream. Act. iii.
Shakespeare fuppofes dragons to draw her carr,

For Nights fwift dragons cut the clouds full faft.
Virgil gives Night a pair of horses, v. 721.
Virg. xii. 466. Et Nox atra polum bigis fubveɛta tenebat.

Ρεοικώς.
But Tibullus is more liberal, and fays, like
Hom. II. y. 449. four horfes, iii. iv. 17.
Spenfer, that the rode in a chariot drawn by

Fam

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